obligatory christian thread

[ava]

alright, so I was raised christian, but I still don't understand some of the stuff they pass off as doctrine.

So, a few questions that I've never really had answered:
How is it that christianity is monotheistic if it has 3 gods?

How exactly are three separate gods the same one?

How exactly does one of those three (or a third of the one god, i guess, this trinitarian thing confuses me to no end) sacrficing itself to another third of the big god supposed to atone for flaws the big god installed in its own creations?

I have more, but I'll them later as I think of them.

[Thistleoftexas]

That's exactly why I wanted to put this thread up. I was hoping someone who is Christian or was 'raised Christian' (and actually managed to grasp at least the major concepts) could shed some light on such matters, because I have no idea.

[ava]

mk, re the trinity deal, I did some reading and one explanation of the 3-in-1-but-they're-all-the-same-thing-really deal was this:

“Even when the ray is shot from the sun, it is still a part of the parent mass; the sun will still be in the ray, because it is a ray of the sun…. Thus Christ is Spirit of Spirit, and God of God, as light of light is kindled. ... The material matrix remains entire and unimpaired, though you derive from it any number of shoots possessed of its qualities; so too is Christ both God and the Son of God." - Tertullian (4th century theologian)